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Tips for Grand Canyon and Boulder City

1

1flyingyogi

Well Known Member
My wife and I will be flying to the Grand Canyon (GCN) for the first time next week. We'll spend a day there and then a day at Boulder City to see the Hoover Dam/ Lake Meade before heading back home to Socal.

The plan is to hike and look around at Grand Canyon, fly to Marble Canyon, and maybe Page. And in Boulder City, take the Hoover Dam tour and maybe some more hiking.

Any tips from RVr's in the area or who have done this trip? Thanks!

Brian
RV4
Dues happily paid
 
It's been some time since we were there, so take this for what it's worth:
It can be cold this time of year!
I think this time of year personal cars can drive in the park. Have you considered Vale, AZ, about 40 miles south of GCN? Cheaper parking, rental car, and hotel and restaurant (walking distance). You do need to then drive 40 minutes to the park.
 
If you want to over fly the canyon, make sure you review the Grand Canyon VFR Chart. Lots of special rules for over flight. For some reason the faa hasn't made the corridor end points as actual "intersections" in the system. I had to manually program them into my Dynon SV. It's pretty spectacular to do an over flight, highly recommend. Dress warm, can be cool in March. A side trip to Sedona is a neat flight. Airport is on top a scenic plateau, an awesome fly in spot with a good restaurant next to the fbo. Page also has a nice airport. Over flying Lake Powell and Glen Canyon dam is also awesome. Have fun!
 
need clarification Grand Canyon SFRA

Yes, I've been studying the GC VFR chart very carefully and have programed the corridor start and end points into my tablet. From what I understand, as long as you follow the altitude restrictions and stay out of the no-fly zones, you can fly anywhere else in the VFR area, correct? (not just the corridors). Each of the sectors has specific altitudes marked on the chart - for example in Diamond Creek Sector, it's marked 8999MSL/ SURFACE. So does this mean that as long as I stay at 9000 and above, I'm OK (even if I'm not flying in one of the specified corridors)? Can someone please clarify?

I've seen videos of trikes flying very low near Marble Canyon. Is this illegal?? It's markd 7999MSL/ SURFACE.

As far as weather, we it's going to be a lot warmer by the next week - a good 20 degrees warmer than last. :) Our plan is to fly into GCN, take a taxi to the visitors center and from there the park shuttle will take us around the park and to our hotel in the village. For BVU, we'll rent a car.
 
The special flight rules VFR chart explains that operations for landing/takeoff below 3000' above the airports within 3 NM are allowed. So this means that you can bust the airspace floor of 7999' within 3 NM to land at Marble Canyon, for example. Cliff Dweller's is only ~7 miles from Marble Canyon, so you can pretty much start coming down above that airport on your way to Marble Canyon.

You can fly down to the floor of the airspace, but be aware that there are numerous commercial operators that cross through in areas beyond the corridors. Check the Grand Canyon Tour Ops map on the back of the special flight rules chart. We saw lots of silent traffic on the EFIS crossing below us at various corridors.

I've been across the canyon several times and it is an amazing experience. It's worth it to head northeast across from GCN on the Dragon (or Zuni) corridor at 11,500, just so you can come back southwest over the Fossil corridor at a lower 10,500.

You also shouldn't have to catch a cab into the park. They have a free shuttle bus from Tusayan running from March 1 through September 30 into the park.

Page is a nice airport to gas up at. Classic Aviation is wonderful and you can borrow the courtesy car and drive into town for lunch at the Ranch House Grille.
 
TIPS.

Ignore the tour helecopters that fly under you on final. Tower says "be aware of traffic".

DON'T push the mixture in on rollout (I'm still baffled why I did this). Killed my engine as soon as I turned off the runway. Tower asked "do you need assistance". I growl back "Noooo" :rolleyes:

I thought the GCN service was fine. The ramp charges were either non-existant or not out of line. I just don't remember them as a negative.

The park shuttle was handy. I think it was 20 bucks for the pair of us each way to and from the park.

DAM
Do the complete dam tour, not the short one. It has plenty of extras to make it worthwhile.

There is a separate building with an automated presentation and relief map of the western water system. It was educational to an easterner.

Leave your pocketknife in the rental car. Its basically airport style security on entry.
 
Park

I'm from Fl. went a few years ago and I'm dying to go again maybe next year.
Landed at Hidden Az private airport and they have an old car and an aircraft museum worth seeing.Also the Flintstone park was a blast from the past and they had a good breakfast.Have fun we had a rental car waiting at airport about 30 min drive.
Bob
 
rzbill said:
TIPS.

Ignore the tour helecopters that fly under you on final. Tower says "be aware of traffic".
Click to expand...

The tour helicopter traffic at Boulder City can be pretty intense so you need to keep your eyes open near the airport. I seem to recall that they use the power station a mile or two SE of the airport as a visual checkpoint. No tower, you're on your own.

I strongly recommend checking out the solar farm about 20 miles southwest from the air (just west of the Ivanpah lakebed). Looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
 
Last year we flew over the Grand Canyon, back and forth through all the corridors. Although that was a great experience, I enjoyed flying from Kanab UT over lake Powell, then through Monument valley, then back to Sedona much more. Monument valley was the highlight of our trip. If I remember right, that leg was 2.5-3 hours.

As for entering the Grand Canyon corridors: I spent a couple hours the night before entering the waypoints on Foreflight, then synced it to the autopilot in the morning. That way the entire flight I could be looking for traffic/enjoying the views. Just had to adjust the altitude bug for each leg. We were the only GA plane in the corridors that day. All the traffic was in the tour operator levels below us.
 
We flew out of St. George Utah. All GC Corridors, Bryce, and Zion loop was about 2.5 hours. Chose to do it in the early morning to take advantage of the smoother air as well as the changing angles of the light from the Sun. Absolutely breathtaking.
However, nothing compares to standing on the edge of the Canyon for a sense of scale and wow factor. Flying at altitude "flattens" things out. It is much more impressive from the ground but it would take you a month of Sundays to see what you can in a couple hours by air.
 
If you land at Marble Canyon, take a walk along the trail to the East. It leads right to the Canyon edge and you can sit with your legs dangling. Nice place for a picnic. The restaurant West of the strip is new and nice also.
You can take a loop around horseshoe bend upstream when you leave.... and then get a look at Lake Powell too. Have fun !
 
Great Tips!

I'll be flying that way myself around the 28th of March.

Thanks to everyone for your tips!

Mike
 
Several years ago my wife and I flew our 172 from KLGB to Williams KCMR for a weekend getaway. We then took the train to the GC, spent several hours there then enjoyed the train ride back. Williams is right on Route 66 so an evening walk into town a few short blocks) was entertaining and provide us with a nice break. It's a trip I want to make again in our RV.

-Marc
 
Still... the Grand Canyon is the best sight I have seen from the air. You are going to like this trip!
 
Any grass runways enroute??

Thanks for the excellent tips, everyone! So our plan is land at CMR in Williams, AZ for a quick fuel stop before heading north the GCN. Fuel is almost a full $2/ gallon cheaper! Then spend the day checking out the visitor center and maybe look around/ hike a bit.

The next day, we'll look around some more and then fly Zuni corridor north and land at Marble Canyon and possibly Page also. Then fly south-west to Fossil corridor and then head over to Boulder City, flying over Lake Mead.

Then spend the night there and see Hoover Dam/ Lake Mead the next day and head home before sunset. Flying over the solar farm is a great suggestion! We saw that on the chart and I was planning on it. Anything else nice to see on the way back to Socal? Or even a nice/ fun/ adventurous place to land?

I would love to land on a grass runway if there's one somewhere on our way back! Anyone know of one?? I haven't landed on grass since transition training in Oregon. =)

Thanks again for all the great suggestions! I'll do a write up with photos and video after the trip.
 
Redrock said:
For some reason the faa hasn't made the corridor end points as actual "intersections" in the system.
Click to expand...

A little slow in getting this posted. Came late to this thread.

I think the FAA would be very careful NOT to provide entry/exit waypoints. I'd be worried about multiple people using the waypoints and flying that very precise track on autopilot while sightseeing and taking pictures. Could turn out very badly!
 
1flyingyogi said:
Thanks for the excellent tips, everyone! So our plan is land at CMR in Williams, AZ for a quick fuel stop before heading north the GCN.
Click to expand...

Call ahead to make sure fuel is available at Williams. When we were there there was no fuel so we had to stop at HII on the way back.

regards

~Marc
 
Plummit said:
Call ahead to make sure fuel is available at Williams. When we were there there was no fuel so we had to stop at HII on the way back.

regards

~Marc
Click to expand...

I've been trying to call for the past few days, but no one ever answers the phones, no matter what time of the day I call. Do you know if someone monitors their UNICOM? Maybe I'll just have to call while I'm in the air, although I'd prefer to know ahead of time...
 
Gas at Valle (between Williams and Grand Canyon) is more than listed for Williams but cheaper than KGCN.
 
call Gene?

1flyingyogi said:
I've been trying to call for the past few days, but no one ever answers the phones...
Click to expand...
From a 10 month old comment on Foreflight, "If you NEED fuel now, call Gene (with the city of Williams)...928-679-5446". Might be worth a shot.
 
snopercod said:
From a 10 month old comment on Foreflight, "If you NEED fuel now, call Gene (with the city of Williams)...928-679-5446". Might be worth a shot.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Gene picked up and was very helpful. He said the guy who works in the office only shows up about 2 days a week which is why I couldn't get a hold of anyone. He said that there "should be fuel" in the tank - he checked on Thursday. He said the credit card machine sometimes doesn't work. But he checked this morning and it's working, so when I fly in on Sunday, it "should" be fine.

So fuel there is cheapest by far at $3.90/ gallon. I usually don't hassle too much about saving a few cents on fuel, but this is almost a full $2 less than GCN.

However, I don't want to land there and find out that I can't get fuel b/c the credit card machine which "should" be working isn't.

Thinking of landing at Havasu, Kingman or Sun Valley instead. I confirmed that they do have fuel at these airports (b/t $4.45 to $4.80). GCN is $5.90. I haven't been to any of these airports. Is there one I should favor?
 
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